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Holiday candy is a special part of the winter season. Candy canes, peppermint bark, gum drops and chocolates are often scattered about the house in tiny containers, just waiting for little hands to enjoy them. For this week's Maker Team tutorial, Tara of @weftyneedle shows us how to make a felt wreath mat that is the perfect size for a candy dish or a holiday scented candle. Inspired by her mom's wool appliqué, this mat is sure to become a holiday tradition in your home too!
I find a lot of inspiration for what I want to make out of felt from the things my mom makes out of wool. For this project, I made a felt version of a wool penny candy or candle mat. If you want to take a look at the type of wool appliqué my mom does, check out this wool penny quilt she made! Also shout out to my mom for teaching me how to embroider ... French knots are downright magical. However, if you don’t embroider, no problem - you can substitute glue for sewing in each of the steps.
Wool Penny Quilt by Pat Wood of Audubon, Iowa
Skill Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Time: 6 hours work time. I’ll admit, I used a laser cutter to cut most of my shapes, so my work time was considerably less than this.
Supply List:
One 9x12" sheet of carmine wool blend felt for bottom layer
One 9x12" sheet of linen wool blend felt for top layer
Half of a 9x12" sheet of kelly wool blend felt for wreaths
Half of a 9x12" sheet of carmine wool blend felt for bows
Coordinating DMC embroidery floss (666 for carmine, 3866 for linen, 909 for kelly)
Contrasting embroidery floss for the french knots, or DMC 3822 if you'd like to match this tutorial
Embroidery Needle
Scissors
Directions:
1. Cut out a flower shape from each felt sheet, ensuring there are eight “petals” and the top flower shape is ½ inch smaller than the bottom shape. My bottom shape was 8.5 x 8.5 inches wide, and my smaller shape was 7 x 7 inches wide.
2. Cut out eight wreath shapes. Mine were 2 inch circles with 1 ⅛ inch circles cut out of the middle. Alternatively, you could make actual wool pennies by layering a 2 inch wreath circle and a 1 ⅛ circle cut out of the same color felt as your top flower shape.
3. Cut out eight tiny wishbone shapes with little notches to look like ribbon, and eight 1 ⅝ x 2 ¼ inch strips out of felt for bows.
4. Pin the wreaths on the top flower shape and stitch and secure. I used little tacking stitches, but you could use a blanket stitch or glue.
5. Add French knots to wreaths as little ornaments or berries.
6. Attach the top flower shape to the bottom using a blanket stitch (alternatively, you could glue them).
7. Add a blanket stitch to the raw edge of the bottom layer to give it a uniform and finished look (optional).
8. Take the 2 ¼ bow strips, fold them in thirds, and with three tiny stitches, cinch the middles to look like the loops of bows. Wrap the embroidery floss around the middle and tie a knot at the back.
9. Glue the wishbone shapes to the tops of the wreaths and then glue on the little bow tops.
10. Find a coffee table that needs a cute little mat for a candle or candy dish.
There are an endless variety of color variations you could use to make mats for folks who don’t do traditional red and green for their holiday decorating. Happy stitching!
Thanks to Tara for designing and writing this tutorial! You can follow her on Instagram @weftyneedle or visit her website. Stay tuned for more tutorials from the Benzie Design Maker Team!
